No need to worry: Expected rainfall won't cause flooding

Take one major snowstorm. Add ice. Allow to sit. After a few days, add heat and water.

That's the concoction that led to one of the worst floods of the Delaware River on January 19, 1996. It was the second-worst flood in the history of the river — since topped three times. A blizzard dropped about a foot of snow on the region on Jan. 12, then it was followed by a week of unseasonably warm, snow-melting temperatures and about 2 inches of rain Jan. 19.

The result pushed the Delaware River over its banks and flooded out many of the low-lying areas.

Fast forward to present day. The Delaware River sits calmly about 15 feet below flood stage, but the flood recipe — added to the new propensity for flooding — we saw in 1996 is in place once again.

Temperatures are expected to stay in the high-40s to low-30s through the week, according to the National Weather Service, with a chance of rain forecast today and over the weekend.

All of that, however, doesn't look like enough to cause a major snow melt, according to NWS meteorologists.

"Whatever it ends up being, it doesn't look like it's enough to cause any major problems," NWS meteorologist Lee Robertson said. "That being said, there could be something that happens to change that, but right now we don't expect any problems."

The melt that caused the flood in 1996 saw much more extreme conditions than what we'll be seeing this week. Temperatures in 1996 reached the mid-50s right after the snowstorm.

Then the rain that fell a week later, adding to the already high river levels, was about 2 inches worth.

The temperatures this week won't get nearly that high and the rain coming today isn't that much.

"Right now, it's going to be barely one-quarter of an inch," Robertson said. "And in the Poconos, it could very easily be snow. Whatever precipitation we have, it doesn't look like it will cause a significant snow melt."